Just bought a smoker, question?!?!

I have been playing with it for a couple hours and when I put the water/apple juice in the drip pan it decreases the temp. My question is how do I regular the temp soo it doesn't drop?!?!

 

What kind of smoker did you get? I don't know that I'll be much help but somebody that knows what they're doing will probably want to know anyway

 

Brinkmann. On sale at home depot

 

how open did you leave the vents?

 

My Dad had one of those that put in a few good years of service. Those things are kinda small but they put out some good ribs. I'm with tacomaman06 how open are the vents on the top? your not gonna be able to maintain heat if they're open.

 

All the way open.

 

Soo close the upper and leave the bottoms one open!?!

 

to keep the temp up........only vent the top just a tiny bit....barely crack it open, and let the bottom breathe a lil more than the top one. you want air getting to the charcoal or wood you are using for the smoking.

 

Yup smoking

 

We've had a cheapo electric smoker from HomeDepot for a couple years.


It's an electric and once you plug it in, it's always on. Our water pan is about 5" deep. The only way we've found to regulate the temperature somewhat....is using less water or opening up the lid slightly (if it gets too hot). The less water you put in it, the higher the temp (so to speak).

The hotter it is outside, the harder it is to keep the temp down. The colder is it outside, the harder it is to keep the temp UP. In fact, we gave up trying to make ribs & stuff in the winter.....smoker couldn't get hot enough. Damnit.... (laugh)

 

I almost bought that one. Haahaa glad I didn't

 

This may be a dumb question and sorry for the thread jack in advance but how the heck does an electric smoker work Janster?

 

Haahaa not thread jack!! I had the same question

 

The one I have, an el-cheapo Brinkman....
It's got a big heating element at the bottom (kinda like the heating rods in your oven). It lays ontop or within a bed of lava rocks. You plug it in....and it stays on all the time. That's it.....

On this one - there's no thermostat or thermometer. We actually drilled a hole in the lid and put a thermometer in it so atleast we can see what the temps are.

 

Filling the water pan will drop your temp because it's the most available heat sink. Also opening up the smoker to tweak anything basically adds 15 minutes recovery time for the temperature. Slows the cooking down a lot if you're a peeker or a tweaker. Learn to leave the smoker alone as much as possible.

Basic tricks for this are to fill it with hot/boiling liquid to start with. Makes the filling action a little riskier but temps will recover quicker.

 

electric smokers are by far much easier to use and work just as well as a charcoal smoker!!! I have a few friends with charcoal smokers and just about everyone of them r thinking about getting a electric smoker instead after either using mine or being around while in using it!!! I dont have a issue with not getting hot enough in the winter, I smoked a few chickens, hams, bacon, steak just about everything this winter!